LS Special Newbee

[tdpeterson]

Hi,

Hoping to get some help with this. I am new to the whole world of tube amps and moved over from Line 6 recently at the urging of my band. I have to say I am a believer now, actually the tone isn't even close. LS Special is awesome. I am confused about the whole effects loop feature. Would I run my pedal board in to the effects loop? and if so what benefits will this have over just running the pedal board through the input. Sorry for the stupid question but I don't know what the hell I am doing.

I am running a Big Muff, Vodoo Labs phaser, Dan Echo delay.

Thanks
tim

 

[Platypus]

The Effects loop is generally used for timebased effects.. so stuff like delay, echo, phaser, flanger, tremelo, reverb, etc.

Running effects into the input put them before the preamp, so your Big Muff fuzz should go here.

So the answer is both

 

[tdpeterson]

thanks for the quick reply. So let me get this straight, I should run the Big Muff "before the effects loop" and then all the delays. phaser etc.. through the effects loop?

This makes sense so the the delays are actually being applied after the signal hits the preamp but before the speaker?

 

[Platypus]

thanks for the quick reply. So let me get this straight, I should run the Big Muff "before the effects loop" and then all the delays. phaser etc.. through the effects loop?

This makes sense so the the delays are actually being applied after the signal hits the preamp but before the speaker?

The big muff will go inbetween your guitar and the input to your amp, thus before the preamp. The time based effects should come after the preamp because things like delay really do a number on your signal (some like that sound and use it.. it's not 'wrong' but you'll get the best 'normal' sound after your preamp for time based effects).

Experiment around and have fun!

 

[tdpeterson]

Got it! I read through the Class A exposed pamphlet that came with the amp and it helped a lot. So if I'm understanding this correctly, anything time based, delays, phasers etc. need to work on the post processed signal. This would explain why my swells weren't really working very well when the effect was applied after the muff while both were running before the preamp. Im getting dangerously close to knowing wtf I am doing. Thanks for the help.

Tim

 

[Platypus]

Got it! I read through the Class A exposed pamphlet that came with the amp and it helped a lot. So if I'm understanding this correctly, anything time based, delays, phasers etc. need to work on the post processed signal. This would explain why my swells weren't really working very well when the effect was applied after the muff while both were running before the preamp. Im getting dangerously close to knowing wtf I am doing. Thanks for the help.

Tim

Yeah, you're basically delaying the signal going into your preamp which causes all sorts of weirdness.

Another cool thing about the loop (if your amp has this capability, not sure if the LSS footswitch has an FX on/of on it) is that if you have multiple effects going like... two analog delays, chorus, phaser, etc you don't have to tapdance to go back to a dry tone right away, you can just switch off the loop and leave your pedals 'on'.. this is extremely useful for me because I do a lot of weird soundscaping that builds up to something intense and then I like to drop back to a totally dry clean tone at the drop of a hat.

Glad you dig the LSS, that EL84 chime always brings a smile.

 

[timmerel]

That said, putting a compressor in the LSS loop works wonders for the overdrive sound - and usually you are "supposed" to put compressors before the amp's input instead.

Check the first couple of tracks here for how it sounds:

www.myspace.com/fudjmusic

You should also check the tubes forum, because you can get a much nicer clean and overdriven tone from the LSS with NOS (new old stock) tubes.

Enjoy!

 

[SabuJSE]

I'm in the minority - I run everything through the effects loop of my LSS and it all sounds wonderful. Here's what I have in there:

Strobostomp2 Tuner -> Keeley Compressor -> Clyde Wah -> OCD (overdrive) -> Fuzz Head (Fuzz) -> HBE Psilocybe (Phaser) -> Supa Trem (Tremolo) -> DLS Echotap (Delay)

This works for me - and the overdrive/fuzz react very nicely to volume changes, clean vs dirty channel, etc.

 

[tdpeterson]

Sabu interesting! This would be my preferred approach. I have found that running the Big Muff pre processing is difficult to manage. I will try this later and get back to you on my results. I can say that keeping the timing effects in the effects loop has worked wonders for my swells, delays, etc... and the tone of this amp is orgasmic!

Tim